Getting crafty...

Wish me luck - after years of threatening to do it I've finally signed up for an evening class in sewing and dressmaking. Whilst I've sold the idea to the family on the premise of stress relief and mum time, I know they're secretly quite worried about the creations I might be foisting on them in the near future! Will my dressmaking muse be Gaultier or Gaga? Or will I go totally Goodlife and start making all their clothes! Tremble they might!!!

Actually they've no need to worry... I've already got my pattern and it's quite family friendly I think...



It's been sat in the drawer for two years now so it's a case of 'get on with it or admit defeat!'

I've got my fabric too, a cloud9 design from a fantastic site called seamster.co.uk. I love it...



Now all i have to do is make it- yikes!

To be honest I'm quite nervous about the whole thing, I've bought a new pencil case and everything just like the start of term! But if I can learn enough in 10 classes to make up for living miles from decent clothes shops than that will do me fine!


And who knew there was a whole world of great online fabric stores, I could be hooked! I'll keep you posted...


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Showgirls and Giants...

This weekend the gardeners of Yorkahsire gathered en mass at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show to celebrate the great and the gargantuan of garden produce. It was my first time visiting the show and after hearing tales of the the giant veg competitions I was looking forward to some treats, but nothing could have prepared me for the displays in the exhibitors tent...

Dahlias to die for..

Chrysanthemums the size of footballs...

And the Roses were just about as good as it gets...

the blooms were definitely the showgirls of the day, with every colour imaginable on display, puffed up, blousy and demanding attention. We loved it! and wandering from tent to tent in a Pimms induced state of bliss, we had no idea what the produce tent had in store for us as we quite literally went from the sublime to the ridiculous!

I quite literally have 'never seen anything like it in my life'! Row after row of trestle tables groaning under the weight of veg so gigantic you have to wonder how they got it there!

You've got to really like cabbage to grow these - lets face it you're going to be eating it for weeks!

I didnt know whether to gasp or giggle at these marrows - they were HUGE! We agreed they wouldn't look out of place with a dinosaur chomping on them!

And the onions! The onions were - staggering! This was the record breaker

Yep - thats right 17lb 15.5 oz That's definitely going to make someones eyes water!

All in all the show is a testament to peoples passion for growing things, everything from Delphiniums to Dragons Egg Cucumbers ( I bought some seeds so I'll be showing you them soon!). I loved seeing the individual growers by their stands, guarding their produce and glowing with pride, that feeling that we all have the first time we grow something that makes it to the table - its just that these guys have turned it into an art form! And striving for excellence is something we all share as gardeners whether we achieve it or not - I know I won't be alone in ending the growing season already planning for what i want to do differently and better next year. Im certainly planning a trip to the Spring next year to get me off to a head start...

Summers over, school begins...

Its official, summer is definitely over. All the signs are around us, the harvest is in, the nights are getting darker, Mums back to blogging...but most importantly the school shoes are polished and ready for the get go in the morning! And what a start to school it will be, one mini freeranger moving into 'Juniors', a phrase I like to use even though she sighs every time I call it that and tells me that was what it was called in the olden days! and one mini freeranger starting school for the very first time, although he doesn't quite believe it yet and just laughs and runs off when questioned!

this doesn't bode well for the shock he's going to get when he has to stay there all day, oh dear!

Fortunately this photo was taken before the weekend when Boy decided to tussle with a neighbours dog, the play was friendly and Boy was avoiding any teasing as he knows its wrong but the old dog got carried away and nipped him in play. Here are the results he'll be sporting for his first day at school...

My poor Boy...One trip to hospital, one very hysterical mother and several ice lollies later he was feeling much better, enough to tell me that he'd had " a terrible time and his head was sore and his tummy was rumbly...a biscuit might help"!

Not to be outdone, Girl has managed to lose 4 teeth this summer. She's mastered the art of speed eating spaghetti and we'll have no problem with her vampire outfit for Halloween, but I can only pray that schools photo wont be for a few weeks yet!

Ive got some foodie and garden blogs to come but for now the only thing in our house is the end of the holidays. We've crammed the days full, playing, adventuring, travelling, splashing, digging, scoffing, snoozing, giggling and most certainly avoinding the laundry mountain thats threatening to take over the sitting room.

But that was then... Uniforms have been pressed and hair clips collected from the bottom of toy boxes, book bags emptied and homework found too late to do much with it. All we have to do now is get out of the house on time and leave them at the classroom door. They'll be fine...as long as I don't embarrass them with my mumsy tears - someone save me a tissue for tomorrow, in fact make it a box...